Sparkman Cellars

Wine with a heart, part 2

It all started when Kelly became pregnant and she and Chris wanted to be available parents. Kelly was a wildlife biologist, working on restoration programs and as a veterinary technician. Chris got his master's in International Environmental Policy, spent time twice in Africa (once in the Peace Corps), has lived in France and traveled in every state in the Union, received a Sea Grant Fellowship through his master's and worked with the International Whaling Commission where he actually went to the Arctic Circle and was on the team for a deal signed with the Russians on annual whaling takes. "It was so amazing because the talks were held in a high school lunch room with overhead announcements like any school and it was 40° below outside," he laughs. In 1984, he started his restaurant career as a waiter at Commander's Palace in New Orleans when Emeril was chef, working his way to captain. He also worked at Michael's in LA, restaurants in Charleston, Knoxville (his home town) and D.C.

At the end of 2000, he was accepted into a doctoral program for environmental anthropology and decided to stage a boys' trip to Las Vegas on September 7 before becoming a starving student again. He'd been chasing after Kelly since 1992, but timing had never worked. She called him right before his trip, saying she'd be in Las Vegas on September 8—was there any way he could get there? That was the end of the chasing and the beginning of their life together. He turned down the grant for the doctoral program and moved to Seattle where Kelly was living. He interviewed with Mackay Restaurants before moving and was hired at El Gaucho as a captain. After six months, he was moved to Waterfront Seafood Grill for the summer, where he became maitre‘d, assistant GM and head of the wine program. In May of 2003 he became Waterfront Seafood Grill GM.

With all these two had going on, it's no wonder they needed a plan on how to be with their children. "I did not want to be a kiss-hug-wave dad," says Chris. "We want to raise our kids in a healthy, culturally rich environment and to grow as a family. Once they start school, working a nighttime job at a restaurant makes it very difficult. Kelly's dad suggested starting a family business and suggested a wine store." It seemed like a good enough idea until Chris spent an evening over sushi and sake with Charles Smith (K Vintners, Magnificent Wine Co., Charles Smith Wines). "He said he'd had a wine shop and it was cool, but we should try a winery. I said I didn't know how and out came a stack of cocktail napkins. He wrote down how to do it, who to contact. I took it back to my father-in-law and suggested a winery. He said ‘do you have figures on this?' and I pulled out this wad of cocktail napkins and said ‘yes, I do.' Wine has so many parts that work for families, farms and their crews. We help them and our kids grow up with lots of close relationships and bottles with their names on them." Both Kelly and Chris's parents joined in; Sparkman Cellars is owned by all six.

Their goal was for Chris to step down from his GM job at Waterfront when Stella, their eldest, started first grade. On September 1, 2010, she started first grade and Chris stepped down. They now spend much of every day together working on the family business. But don't get a pastoral picture of slow-moving folk. Chris still works two nights a week at Waterfront as a floor manager. He also has the title of Wine Syndicate Director and has put into place systems and strategy for buying wines for all five Mackay restaurants. "Time spent on this is a day-by-day thing," explains Chris. "The Mackays are wonderful to work for and we work it out as we go along." They run the two tasting rooms, a wine club and an online store. They use Vinum Wine Importing and Distributing "who are fantastic," to sell wine in Washington and Oregon. They've recently started selling in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and are in the final stages of setting up Colorado, California, Texas, New York, Massachusetts and, yes, Hong Kong. All these places and they're making 3500 cases? Here's the next step. They're working on a second label, perhaps a second company. "It will be a volume deal," says Chris. "We've had good ink on Sparkman and we can leverage that to make a lower-end wine that we can sell in all these places." Not enough? They're working on a vineyard deal; it all may come down at the same time. And they want to add a philanthropic arm to what they're doing. "This excites Kelly and me as much as anything else," says Chris. "Given what we know about how good we've got it, it's important to give back in a real sense." All this will require a great deal of travel. However, they can plan it around school and make it part work, part family.

"It all takes thought. But Kelly is brilliant and disciplined and her dad asks all the tough questions. They like to say that I have many ideas, a few that are good. So they keep the focus. Our kids go to good schools and we're a real part of their lives. We just have to take the time to be still."

You can feel sure that slowing down will not be an immediate part of any plan, but that putting family first will always be the top priority. This lifestyle choice has proven to benefit all involved and will continue to do so as their plans evolve. Wine with a heart, indeed.

Connie Adams/April 2011